And none of that money pays for overtime work by the public defenders like Means and Jarvis. The Utah County Public Defenders Association has 11 attorneys and more than 1,700 open cases — giving each attorney an average of 150, which stays the same when they get a capital case.

"We don't do it for the money," Jarvis said. "We're public defenders because we believe in the cause, the Constitution. Just having somebody charged with (the death penalty) gets me fired up and makes me want to work that much harder."

A new law

Before April 2007, any aggravated murder case filed in the state of Utah automatically had the death penalty attached.

However, in Utah's 2007 general legislative session, legislators approved SB114, which allows prosecutors an additional 60 days after the preliminary hearing before they file a notice to seek the death penalty.

With that notice, a case is changed from a first-degree aggravated murder to a capital aggravated murder.

"This change was not intended to either increase or decrease the number of times someone goes for the death penalty," said Paul Boyden, executive director of the Statewide Association of Prosecutors. "What it was designed to do is eliminate cases being treated like capital cases when they're not."

So now, rather than go through the case's entire life span with a capital mind-set, prosecutors can carefully consider their evidence and determine if they really want to pursue the death penalty.

"We don't want to be crying wolf in charging the death penalty when what we really want is life without parole," Boyden said. "It's a terrible mess to charge a capital case when what you really want to do is put somebody away for life."

Not only is it expensive, but it strains the resources of both prosecution and defense offices.

"Sometimes it's best to ... maybe even hold a preliminary hearing so that the actual facts of the case come out before you make the decision on the death penalty," Boyden said. "The majority of people are fairly thoughtful, and when more information comes out, you can give a better, a more detailed explanation of why you're doing (something). Part of the point of criminal law is for people to feel that justice is being done. That part is very important."

While prosecutors decide, defense attorneys must begin a mitigation investigation, just like they did under the old law. But if months later, prosecutors announce they won't seek the death penalty, defense attorneys have already spent thousands of hours and dollars for a case that won't need it.